N15 Romford to central London night bus frequency to rise

A night bus service connecting east London with the heart of the capital is set to see the frequency of buses increase on certain days.

Route N15, which runs between Romford and Oxford Circus via Canning Town, will have a bus every eight minutes overnight on Fridays and Saturdays instead of 10 minutes currently.

The change, starting on Saturday (June 24), is reportedly part of Transport for London’s (TfL) commitment in its “Bus Action Plan” to improve safety for women and girls in London.

The route will however go back to its usual 10-minute window on other days.

A spokesperson for TfL said that the move will lead to “more space for customers on each service” and “shorter waiting times at bus stops”.

Read More: ULEZ: Anger as Havering left out of Superloop bus network

The step, they added, will benefit people living in east London including partygoers and hospitality workers.

They said: “The night bus offers a safe, reliable and affordable way for Londoners to get to where they need to be in the early hours of the morning.”

Commuters, according to TfL, can also continue to interchange from the N15 to other buses like the route 25 at Aldgate going towards Ilford.

They will bear no extra cost due to the mayor’s hopper fare if the interchange is made within an hour.

Geoff Hobbs, TfL’s director of public transport planning, said the N15 is a “key route” linking “several east London neighbourhoods with the city centre at night”.

He added: “With more buses running overnight on Fridays and Saturdays, customers can count on the bus to get home from a night out or a late shift at the weekend.”

Seb Dance, deputy mayor for transport, claimed that he and the mayor are “committed to improving bus services for Londoners and particularly those in outer London”.

The announcement follows London mayor Sadiq Khan’s move to introduce a Superloop network of routes around some outer London boroughs.

It aims to provide an alternative to cars in regions where public transport connectivity is considered weaker in light of the Ultra Low Emission Zone expansion to the whole of London.

But the Superloop does not include Havering, which sparked criticism from some.